CrystalCrisis
by ninjacatz87
Summary: The two were once champions of Mianite, now they hide in plain sight hoping to live their lives in peace. Of course peace and quiet never last long in the land of Ruxomar. Follow the adventures of Crystal and Crisis as they try to keep a low profile and keep their friends out of danger. Starts several years before season 2 of Mianite, will eventually include all of Tiem Reester
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

AN: Hello, this is my first ever fanfic. Hope you guys like it! Oh, and I don't own Mianite. Also, Mianite characters don't really show up till the end of ch 4.

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Chapter 1: Prologue

There were once two siblings who lived in the realm of Ruxomar. Separated by two years they were fairly close, the elder was a girl named Crystalia, though everyone just called her Crystal, and the youngest was a boy named Crisis. The two of them were born in the mountain city of Dankrosa and grew up in relative peace. The two both had hair that was black and brown eyes with fair skin though Crystal's hair was just a bit lighter than her brother's and Crisis's skin turned out lighter than his sister as his sister liked to spend more time out in the sun. As they grew up Crystal kept her hair long and often kept it tied back either in a braid or in a ponytail while Crisis kept his hair cut short. Crisis would eventually grow up to be taller and thinner than his older sister. Crystal would always jokingly complain, and constantly teased him about his skinniness. She always told him he needed to eat more before he became just skin and bones while he would bite back with sarcasm about her height.

From a young age they were trained in the art of fighting after a particularly bad blood moon incident causing many parents to start teaching their children how to fight in order to protect themselves. They eventually became a force to be reckoned with even at a young age. Crystal had become proficient in using a crossbow and a rapier whilst Crisis had become proficient in using a longsword and a bow. Both of them would eventually utilize angel rings provided by Mianite to help them in aerial combat. Crystal ended up customizing her wings to look like those of a fairy's while Crisis made his look like dragon wings. As they grew up they were regarded as the best fighters in the city and had even managed to catch the eye of the town's patron god, Mianite, and at the age of 14 and 16, Crisis and Crystal became knights under Mianite and swore their allegiance to him. He gifted the two with special soulbound angel rings and new specialized weapons as proof of their allegiance. Mianite gifted Crystal a rapier made of ceruclase that slowed her enemies whenever she landed a hit while Crisis received a long sword made of sanguinite that caused his enemies to wither when ever they got hit. They continued to learn more about fighting strategies and both of them learned magic spells to aid them in battle. Crisis preferred using a thaumic wand with a fire focus making it look like he was spitting fire during battle to keep his enemies back while still damaging them. Combined with his flaming arrows and protective fighting style earned him the name Draconis on the battlefield. Crystal took up learning Ars Magica spells that she kept in a book. Her magic was specialized towards ice type spells that sometimes could even slow her enemies. Her magic combined with her quick swordsmanship earned her the name Permafrost. As they grew closer to adulthood the two had started taking more and more missions from Mianite with stranger and more difficult requests. Slowly the the two of them realized that they had become merely assets to Mianite and were no longer his two champions that they had once been. Crystal realized this first and at the age of 18 she took her most prized possessions and her weapons and disappeared into the night. But, to avoid suspicion she had made a deal with an assassin who owed her a favor and asked a mystic to help her warp her brother's memories so that she could be marked as either dead or as a traitor so that she could escape. The next day when Crisis was questioned about her disappearance he claimed that she may have been assassinated as they had planted evidence that there had been a fight and that her body had been taken along with her possessions and weapons for some odd reason. She was marked as MIA until a few weeks later when she was declared officially dead as no evidence was found of her being alive. A few days later after Crystal's "assassination" as planned the spell warping Crisis's memory had worn off. Knowing that his sister would be fine, he stayed in the city and continued taking missions from Mianite as to avoid suspicion and months later he too took his most prized possessions and weapons and fled his hometown as well at the age of 17. People assumed he was kidnapped and after a few weeks of investigation a corpse that people assumed was his turned up and he was declared dead.

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When the two of them fled they both took different paths and wouldn't see each other for several years. Crystal took on the name Akiza, dyed her hair a silvery white and wore contacts to make her eyes look blue to hide her identity. She also used a needle gun rather than her rapier as her skills with a rapier were very well known and would've given her away to any gaurd, knight, or mercenary who saw her using it. During her first year she decided that she would go and venture the world and after about a year she had been to many of the realm's dimensions and had collected many things while dodging loyal Mianite followers who would surely capture and return her to her hometown if they saw her. After her year of venturing the world she decided to settle down in a port town named Dagrun. The town was was watched over by the god Ianite and the town's ruler was even said to be her son. Crystal, still using her disguise of Akiza, sold some of her treasures from her travels and bought herself a small shop with a second floor acting as a living space. Here she sold some of the gems and baubles she had collected during her journey to earn some money. She had also set up a small smeltery beneath her shop in order to smelt all of the ores she had collected. After about a month she noticed that there was only one blacksmith in the town and he only specialized in making iron tier weapons and only up to steel tier tools. So, she started offering her services in repairing all sorts of weapons and tools and eventually started making them when she realized she had the metals needed to do it. As she was self taught, at first most of the weapons she made were fairly basic but after a while she got the hang of it and eventually became one of the best weapon smiths in town. Everyone in Dagrun loved her and over the years she had ditched the colored contacts and had made several friends. She was lucky as all of the citizens in Dagrun thought she was just a traveler who had a knack for making weapons and she was able to live peacefully with no one suspecting that her old life had been that of a knight's. She and her brother would not meet for several years until one day merchants from Urulu came to Dagrun selling ores useful for her craft.

Her brother on the other hand didn't travel as much. He took on the name Drago and used a spell to change his appearance so that his eyes were green and his hair was brown just so that no one would recognize him until he got far enough away from Dankrosa. As soon as he left he only traveled for a few weeks gathering things he just happened to pass by until he reached the town of Urulu. Urulu was a merchant town and watched over by the god Dianite. Crisis used most of the money he made during his time as a knight to purchase himself a place to stay for a while before Dianite's champion Mot saw potential in him and helped him get a job as a worker for another merchant in order to earn money. After a while he set up a small shop with machines he made from leftover ores that his boss let him keep. He made good money off charging others for letting them use his machines and by helping people with his knowledge that he had gathered about machinery and thaumaturgy. During his first few years in Urulu he made friends with a chemist and an engineer. The three became close and decided to start their own business together selling mainly machines that they made but also chemical mixtures with many effects that they had managed to whip up. Eventually the three of them had managed to work together and set up a laser drill giving them all the ores they would ever need and more. The three would take turns going to different towns and selling and trading their ores and chemicals. Generally Crisis went to Katsir to trade as it was the furthest from his home town while the engineer traded in Dankrosa and the chemist went to Dagrun to trade. They made a fairly good profit and became well known for the wide variety of ores they sold alongside the occasional rare but useful chemical mixture. Crisis, like his sister was fairly well liked through the town but unlike his sister he still used a bow though he started using one that wasn't as fancy as the one he used during his time as a knight. He was one of the best marksmen in town and was sometimes even hired as a bodyguard for important transactions that required protection from bandits. Though Crisis now know as Drago was fairly well known in his community no one knew where he came from or why he stayed and no one questioned it allowing him to live a life free from the influence of Mianite. He had even shed his disguise after a year but dyed his hair a fiery shade of red. He never really worried about his sister knowing that she was most likely doing fine but he assumed that she would be traveling the world and got quite the surprise when he went to Dagrun to sell ores in place of his sick friend.


	2. Chapter 2: Crystal

Chapter 2:Crystal

4 years before the disappearance of the AU heroes 3 years after Crystal left Dankrosa

It was a beautiful fairly average spring morning, the skies were blue, the sun was shining and and there was barely a cloud in the sky. Akiza got up very early as usual and grabbed something quick to eat before going out into the nearby woods to go and practice using her rapier in secret knowing that no one would come to her shop until a few hours later. She had kept up this routine ever since she came to Dagrun as she didn't want to become rusty in her swordsmanship in case a blood moon was too much to handle for the guards. Better safe than sorry is what she always told herself. The woods were far away enough and provided enough cover so that no one could just happen upon her training area. Also the woods were fairly secluded and people normally didn't venture out to that area of the woods meaning not only could no one hear her as she was whacking away at the practice dummy but also it was tranquil leaving her with no distractions. She practiced for about an hour or so hacking away at a practice dummy she had set up or any stray hostile mobs that hadn't burned away yet until she felt satisfied that she had had enough training for the day. She took a quick swim in the river to freshen up a bit then headed back towards town using her usual hidden path as to not be noticed be the usual patrol guards. Once she got back to her home she threw some ores into her smeltery before going upstairs and making herself some breakfast while putting on her tinker's goggles that doubled as a headband and changing out of her training clothes and into a pair of jeans and a navy t-shirt. Over the past year she had renovated the upper floor of the shop to be a comfortable living area with workspace that has a desk along with a small kitchenette with a fully stocked pantry. As she headed downstairs with her breakfast to open up she heard a knock on the door.

"Kiza you there?"

"Hold on Rig just give me a moment!"

Crystal immediately knew it was Rig at her door as she was the only one who called her Kiza. Rig was a young woman about the same age as Crystal who was slightly taller than Crystal with dirty blond hair and hazel eyes. She generally wore steampunk style clothing but her clothing hid tinker's construct style armour that had been modified many times during her travels. Rig was a traveler who frequented Dagrun to trade some of things she found during her travels and Crystal had met Rig a few months ago when Rig had stopped by to get her broadsword repaired. The two of them became fast friends and soon enough they were acting as if they had known each other for years. They had even struck up a deal where Crystal would fix up Rig's weapons whenever needed as long as Rig supplied her with chain mail armour commonly found in dungeons so that she could melt them down for steel weapons. Not only was this kind of chain mail generally easy for Rig to find it also gave her more excuses for her to visit every once in a while so that the two could catch up.

Crystal set her breakfast down on the counter before unlocking her door to let Rig in.

"It's good to see you Rig how have you been?"

The two of them have each other a friendly hug before sitting down at one of the waiting tables Crystal had set up before continuing their conversation.

"Good as usual, you?"

"Same old same old here. Have you had breakfast yet? You can have some if you want I made too much again."

"Nah I don't need breakfast I stopped by the bakery before I came here."

"Alright" Crystal answered before continuing to finish her breakfast."How were your travels?"

"Fine as usual, this time around I went to the Twilight dimension and gathered some rare things from there including some naga scales."

"Cool."

"Oh right and I've also got some chain mail for you."

"Oh great I was just starting run low on steel, thanks! Also how long are you planning on staying here in Dagrun?"

"Well I'm probably just staying here until tomorrow and then heading out with some of the traders from Urulu to go trade some of the things I found. Also I have family there and I haven't visited them in a while."

"Cool, I'm not doing anything tonight so you should stop by for dinner. I'm making chicken tonight"

"Sounds like a plan"

The two of them stood up and after Crystal quickly left her plate upstairs the two of them headed down to her smeltery and put in the chainmail to allow it to start melting into molten steel. Once the two got back up to the shop floor Rig started gathering her things and before heading out to the trading area she asked, "Hey, are you doing anything today other than just staying here in your shop?"

"Yeah actually, I need to set out my request box today so I can go to the trading market to stock up on some more ores again. Supposedly there's a trader here from Urulu, like you mentioned earlier, who sells all sorts of ores including cobalt and ardite which I need because I only have a few pieces of cobalt and ardite left."

"Ok, well I need to get to the trading posts so I'm going to get a head start go there now to go trade some of my things."

Rig had finished gathering her things while Crystal had started to set out her request box which was just a chest with a book with some instructions in it.

"Alright see you there!" Akiza replied as Rig headed out the door.

"See ya!"

After Rig left Crystal finished putting out her request box and tidied things up a bit before grabbing one of her golden bags of holding containing some of the gold coins that she had earned over the past month. So, she locked up all her storage cabinets, all the display cases and left a sign on her door that said "Restocking ores will be back sometime before 2PM" before heading out towards the plaza where all the traders were likely to set up their stalls. It was a nice day outside so Crystal took her time getting to the plaza but ,once she got there the first thing she did was head towards Rig's stall as she knew she probably had picked up some trinkets that would catch her eye. As the two of them talked and Crystal looked at her wares to see if there was anything she wanted to buy before seemingly out of nowhere,

"KITTY"

Crystal muttered something along the lines of "oi vey" before two arms hugged her around her shoulders.

"Oh no" Crystal said sarcastically while faking a dramatic look "She's got me! Rig help!"

Rig shook her head in an attempt to hide and suppress her giggles before replying, "Sorry Kiza can't help you there if I do she'll latch onto me." At her response, the three of them laughed before Crystal finally said. "Alright Angel morning to you too." Angel was another friend that Crystal made over the past year. Angel was a few years older than Crystal though you probably wouldn't believe it if you saw how she acted around her friends. She originally had really long blonde hair but dyed most of it pink. But the most noticeable trait about her was the set of metal braces she wore on her calves due to her pigeon toe condition. It was something she had had since she was very little but it didn't put a dent in her bubbly personality. The braces were actually made by Crystal after she saw Angel struggling to get up a flight of stairs. The metal braces didn't completely get rid of the limp but they helped a bit. Angel was one of the first few people that Crystal had met after she had come to Dagrun, she ran the pet store along with her two younger sisters twins Brigetta and Lis a few blocks away down the street from the tavern that Crystal had stayed in before she bought her shop. Crystal had brought in stray kittens that she had found in her shop soon after she bought it. She felt bad and knew she couldn't keep them but thought they needed a good home so she brought them to Angel's store in hopes of them finding good families. At first Angel was really shy but after she got to know Crystal pretty well as she came in from time to time to check on the kittens. There were many times where Angel asked Crystal for help with almost anything and due to Crystal's kind nature she always agreed to help. She earned the nickname Kitty after Angel caught her "talking" to the kittens during one of her visits.

The three of them caught up with each other with Crystal asking Angel about how the twins Lis and Brigetta, the latter of which she nicknamed Evil for her love of poking her in the side to make her jump, were doing. While Rig told the two more about her travels in the Twilight dimension. After talking to the two of them for a bit longer, asking if Angel wanted to come over for dinner, and buying a bracelet from Rig, Crystal bid the two farewell and went to go do business and restock her ore supply. As she headed over to her usual suppliers for some of the more common ores she thought she saw a flash of a familiar face and the sound of a familiar voice but shook it off to imagination. She thought that there was no way that her brother was here in Dagrun. But on a second though she knew there was a possibility that it was him, so she she went off to a side street and made herself look as if she was just taking a break or maybe waiting for someone before using an old spell that allowed her to privately talk to him, a form of telepathy but a bit simpler.

[Crystal-Crisis] Crisis is that you?

[Crisis-me] Chrys? You're here? In Dagrun?

[me-Crisis] Holy crap I was right it was you, yeah hold on where are you? I'll come find you, then we can talk.

[Crisis-me] ok, I shouldn't be too hard to find, just look for the ore trader with red hair. Also I'm using the name Drago instead of Crisis nowadays.

[me-Crisis] Alright give me a moment and also I go by Akiza now

Crystal ended the spell quickly before moving from where she was standing and returning to the main plaza where most of the traders were.


	3. Chapter 3: Lacerta

Chapter 3:Lacerta

It wasn't very long before Crystal found her brother's setup with various ores and chemical mixtures.

"Drago!" she called, the foreign name feeling weird on her lips.

"Hey sis! Long time no see! Wait... your hair is white..."

"Shut up red head" She said in a deadpan tone. At this the two of them started laughing. Both of them had missed their usual banter no matter how much they denied it. Finally noticing that her brother was selling the ores that she needed she went back into what Crisis later dubbed "business mode".

"Hold on you're the merchant from Urulu who sells cobalt and ardite?"

"Yeah. Why? You interested in buying or something?"

"Actually yeah, but you know what. I have a better idea. You aren't using your old Iron knights bow anymore right?"

"Of course not. why?"

"Well, let's just say I can give you a new bow for free and lend you and whoever you work with my services for free if you become my new ardite and cobalt supplier."

"Alright, why not that doesn't sound like a bad deal." He replied giving her half a stack of each ore.

"Ok great!" Looking down at her watch she realized it was already past noon. So, she hastily told her brother, "I gotta go back to my shop now, so how long are you staying here in Dagrun?

"I'm just staying here tonight and then I head back to Urulu tomorrow."

"Ok, good come by my place tonight and I'll have your bow ready and we can finish catching up before you leave"

"What do you mean by your place?"

"Just ask any local about where the weapon smith is and they'll tell you where I am."

"Wait, you're a weapon smith?!"

" _Later_ , I have to go."

After Crystal left her brother's stall, she quickly finished stocking up on the rest of the ores that she needed before heading back to her shop. When she got back to her shop she checked her request box and was happy to see that there were a few requests all of which were simple. For once she was grateful that she didn't have very many requests as it gave her more time to work on a new bow for her brother. So, after making herself a quick lunch she threw half of the ores that her brother had given her into the smeltery and then went to work on her requests for that day. When all the requests were said and done and everything was picked up by their respective owners, she finally got to work on her brother's new bow. She chose to make him a long bow as she knew that even though the draw strength was pretty heavy he could handle it and it would give him more range and power. In the end the long bow had an ardite plate with limbs made of blue slime crystals. She knew Manyullyn had the best durability but she thought ardite would look better and also it was closer to his favorite color so she knew he'd like it better. After finishing the bow she crafted a set of manyullyn arrows modified with a ball of moss, this way she wouldn't have to keep making arrows for him. She had finally finished crafting everything by about 5 PM and once she was finished and satisfied with her work, so she tidied up and went upstairs to go make dinner for her and Rig. Rig and Angel along with Angel's younger sisters came over a few hours later after Crystal had closed up shop and the three of them were sitting and chatting while eating up stairs. They were pretty much done eating and were just conversing before they heard someone knock on Crystal's door. Crystal had thought that her brother wasn't coming until a bit later after Rig and Angel would leave and so she forgot to tell her friends that her brother was in town.

"Kiza, did you invite someone else?" Rig inquired.

"No, but if it's who I think it is then I guess he's early!"

"Kitty, who's "he"?" Angel asked before they heard knocking again. At this Crystal quickly stood up, threw her Dishes into her sink and ran downstairs to the shop floor while yelling, "Hold on, I'm coming." Rig just shrugged her shoulders at her actions and followed her downstairs, Angel not wanting to miss whatever was about to happen followed suit. It was Crisis who was at the door so when she got to the door she unlocked it and let him in. The twins came running down the stairs while Crystal hugged her brother. The two said their hellos while Rig helped Angel descend the last few stairs before asking, "So, Kiza you gonna introduce us or what?"

"Oh right, sorry. Cr-Drago these are my friend Rig and Angel and those are twins Alyssa and Brigetta otherwise known as Lis and pure evil" she said turning to her friends "guys, this is my brother Drago." As she finished their jaws seemed to hit the floor. Rig was the first one to recover from her shock from the new information and before Crisis could open his mouth to ask something Rig beat him to it and asked, "Wait, since when did you have a brother?" "Yeah Kitty you never mentioned you had a brother." Crisis hearing his sister's new nickname turned to her and said, "Kitty?" "Shut up" Crystal snapped before answering her friend's questions.

"I've always had a brother I just happened to not mention him until now because A) you didn't ask and B) the two of us haven't really communicated for the past... Two, two and a half years?"

"Closer to 3" Crisis confirmed.

Rig and Angel just looked at each other and both came to a silent agreement. Rig spoke up for the both of them knowing that Angel wouldn't want to say anything in case she sounded rude and said "Well, it's getting late, the two of us are done with dinner and I have to get an early start for tomorrow so we'll leave you two to catch up."

"Yeah I'm going to head back and get these two to bed"

"Sorry about this guys I'll make it up to you later."

"No prob Kiza, see you soon" Rig said before grabbing her stuff and leaving.

"See ya tomorrow Kitty" followed by a small chorus of "Bye Kitty"'s was heard from the twins before Angel ushered her sisters out of the store. The two siblings stood there until they knew the other two were out of earshot before Crystal let out a sigh and turned to her brother. "Really? Drago? You couldn't have chosen a more inconspicuous name like Kevin?"

"Says the one who now calls herself Akiza"

"Well at least there's no connection between it and my old life"

"Ugh fine" Crisis said giving up knowing that there was no way to win this argument. "So, this is your home?"

"Yup, and if you stay tonight then I'll show you around and we can catch up"

"Well, it's cheaper than staying at the tavern so alright." He replied in a teasing manner.

"Really? (sarcasm, buckets of it) Come on you idiot, I'll show you the smeltery first and that way you can see the new bow I promised you." Crystal said as she walked towards the staircase leading to her basement where everything was set up. The room itself wasn't very impressive it was just stone room with a smeltery in the middle and her workstations all lined up against one of the walls and multiple chests lined against another. Walking over to her tool forge where she left the bow that she had finished earlier she picked up the finished bow and handed it to her brother who looked at it curiously before testing its draw strength.

"Ok it's technically done but I haven't added any modifications yet other than moss for the arrows. The bow itself is made from blue slime crystals held together with an ardite plate. It's not too heavy is it? I know you're a bit more used to short bows but I thought this would fit you better."

"No, it's pretty good actually I can get used to this."

"Good because you're going to test it tomorrow morning."

"What do you have an archery range in here or something?"

"Nah that would take too much effort to build, I'll show you tomorrow morning after I stick some redstone on your bow to make the draw speed faster. But for now lets go back upstairs so we can catch up."

Crisis put the bow down satisfied with how it felt and followed his sister back up the stairs and up to the second floor where her living area was. The two of them talked as Crystal finished washing the dishes and the two of them relayed what each of them had been doing for the past two years. During the conversation Crystal though of something,

"By the way have you been using a fake last name?"

"Yeah. Why? You haven't or something?"

"I've either just not mentioned it or have avoided it. I'm assuming you've had to use one and since I haven't used one yet... Well let's just say it would be really awkward if the two of us gave different last names."

"Yeah that would not be fun to explain. I've been using Lacerta as my last name."

"Lacerta? As in like the lizard constellation?"

"Well I couldn't use Draco."

"You idiot" was Crystals exasperated reply before returning to telling her story about what had happened over the past to years. As the two caught up with each other, Crystal wasn't too surprised when she heard that Crisis didn't in fact go to the Nether to retrieve the ores and just got them from a mining drill but was surprised at the fact that he was known as one of the best marksmen in Urulu and that he was hired once and a while as a bodyguard because of it. Crisis was quite entertained by the fact that absolutely no one in the town suspected her of being a fighter even with her sometimes violent nature. It continued on like this well into the night and by midnight they both decided that they needed sleep. So, Crystal lent her old sleeping bag to Crisis so that he could sleep a bit more comfortably on the couch while Crystal got into bed.


	4. Chapter 4: Target Practice

Chapter 4: Target Practice

The next morning Crystal got up a bit earlier than usual to go finish putting the last touches on her brother's bow before grabbing her old ceruclase rapier that she kept in a carpenter safe in her smeltery room and waking her brother up. Once she woke him up he got dressed and Crystal handed him some bread before telling him to follow her quietly. So he grabbed his new bow and arrows which Crystal had conveniently put on the table in front of him and they left through Crystal's secret exit from her smeltery room. Taking Crystal's normal hidden path the two of them walked towards the forest clearing where Crystal generally trained every morning.

"Alright we're here" Crystal announced to her brother spreading her arms out dramatically.

"How did you find this place"

"Sheer dumb luck" was Crystals reply as she strapped her rapier around her waist and started setting up a target for her brother to shoot. As Crisis was getting ready to shoot he noticed that his sister didn't have her old crossbow with her, so he asked her

"Where's your crossbow?"

"Huh? Oh right... Yeah I broke it and haven't really got to fixing it yet. I'm probably just going to end up making a new one. What about your long sword."

"It's broken too."

"You want me to fix it?"

"If you want to" Crisis answered with a shrug. At this point Crystal had finally finished putting her practice dummy on the other side of the clearing so Crisis walked to the other side and started taking shots from a standing position before moving farther back and even going as far as climbing a tree. It wasn't long until he got used to the bows draw weight and after hitting the bullseye a few times he started running back and forth while shooting at the target. This is when Crystal started making it even more challenging by moving the target to the middle of the clearing and "defending" the target by trying to knock away and catching some of the arrows. Crisis started out fairly slowly before increasing his speed and after a while he managed to get past his sister's defenses and hit the target a few times before Crystal decided to give herself the advantage, quickly rushing her brother and locking him in melee combat. He lasted for a while but the disadvantage of using a bow in melee combat caught up and soon enough Crystal had knocked him to the ground and won their small sparring match. After helping him up she checked for any major injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fixing your old sword and making you an ardite one to use in combat with other people around so you don't get your identity compromised. No arguing." She stated as she sheathed her sword and started putting the dummy away.

"Fine I'll bring it the next time I visit."

"And I'll have your new long sword ready"

"Deal"

"Alright let's head back before anyone finds that we're gone"

Both of them grabbed their weapons and headed back towards the city. When they got back to Crystal's home Crisis grabbed his things while Crystal changed out of her training clothes. Before he left though Crystal handed him a small pouch.

"Here can you give these to Rig for me?"

"Are these chocolate chip cookies? Also why?"

"Yes they are and before you ask yes you can have a few. Also Rig is going to Urulu too and she said she's going to be heading back with the traders so I'm assuming she'll be with your group so tell her I said hello and save her a few of the cookies"

"She's the blonde right?"

"Yup"

"Alright see you soon then" Crisis said before grabbing a cookie out of the pouch and heading out the door. Crystal called out "See you soon!" before going about her daily jobs.

* * *

POV Crisis

After Crisis left Crystal's place he headed to where he and the group of traders were rendezvousing before heading back to Urulu. Crisis got there in time and luckily wasn't the last one. He spotted Rig fairly quickly who was talking to Mot to make sure that it was okay for her to accompany the group back to Urulu. As Crisis was walking over to them Mot noticed him so he quickly finished what he was saying to Rig and called out to him.

"Yo, Drago! Where were you last night everyone thought you ditched us."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Well we have a bit of time before everyone else finishes packing up before we leave so tell me, where were you last night?"

"My sister's place"

At his reply Mot carefully checked him over to see if there was any signs of him lying and when he found none he was just speechless.

"And if you don't believe me just ask her she was there too."

"I still can't believe my best friend has a brother and never told me. What is it with you siblings and not telling anyone that the other exists?"

"We told you, we haven't seen each other in three years"

"That's not a good excuse" both Mot and Rig replied at the same time.

Crisis, looking defeated just answered with "Well it's the only one you guys are getting so #dealwithit." and after that the two just gave up and moved on from the subject.


	5. Chapter 5: Bandits

Chapter 5: Bandits

5 minutes later everyone had arrived and was ready to go and so the small band of 10 or so traders headed back towards Dagrun. Normally Crisis traveled near the front of the group with Mot in order to help him quickly dispose of any bandits or hostile mobs that sometimes troubled them but, this time around he traveled near the back of the group because of several of the traders traveling with them this time were decent fighters, so he traveled near the rear of the group in case anything snuck up behind the group. Rig also just happened to be traveling near the back of the group when Crisis remembered the cookies his sister gave him and took the chance to go give them to her.

"Hey you're my sister's friend uh Rig, right?

"Yep"

"Here" he said handing her the bag of cookies. "Sis wanted me to give these to you"

"Thanks" Rig replied as she opened the bag to grab one. Noticing that there were a few more cookies than usual she took out a few and handed them to Crisis.

"Kiza seems to have packed a few extra which I'm assuming are for you."

"Oh, Thanks. By the way you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Well I met you yesterday for the first time so..."

"Wait a sec you're Alexandra"

"How did you know that name?"

"You're Elaina's sister right? She buys gemstones from us once in a while for her jewelry crafting and I'm pretty sure she's mentioned you few times"

"Ohh that makes sense. Yeah my real name is Alexandra but don't tell your sister. I like going by Rig now and I would like to keep it that way."

"Fine with me."

"Thanks. By the way..."

The two were deep into conversation distracting the two from how much time had passed. They had been talking for several hours before the group suddenly stopped. Both Crisis and Rig didn't notice this until they bumped into people as they were still distracted. Crisis knew that Mot wouldn't stop the group this far from where they were stopping for the night unless something was wrong. So the moment he realized that they had stopped he pushed his way to the front of the group in order to find out what was wrong. Rig, noticing Crisis's change in mood followed him also sensing that something was wrong. Everyone else though the group was just going to stop for a while to take a break not noticing the danger that was nearby in the form of a huge group of hostile mobs that bandits had summoned in order to weaken the group before they would attack and steal all their goods. Before Crisis and Rig could even get to Mot to ask about what was wrong the group was attacked sending the group of merchants into panic. Mot with the help of Crisis and Rig immediately took control of the situation and ordered everyone to get in a group with the better fighters standing in a ring of sorts to protect those who couldn't fight. After getting all of the panic sorted out as quickly as possible Mot immediately charged at the largest group of mobs with the cutlass that Dianite had given him as a gift for becoming his champion. Rig pulled out her broadsword as well and began hacking through mobs one by one. Crisis took out the new bow his sister had crafted him and played a more defensive position of taking out any mobs that either got too close to the defenseless people while simultaneously watching both Rig and Mot to make sure they weren't getting attacked from their blind spots. Crisis was lucky as his sister had made arrows that were able to take down mobs in just one hit making his time defending everyone easier when it came to shooting down creepers. After Mot, Rig and Crisis had taken down most of the mobs the bandits decided to finally show their faces and attack the weakened group. Both Mot and Rig had actually not taken that much damage even though they both had on very light armour, thanks to their skills and to Crisis's sharpshooting skills and engaged the bandits leaving the other traders to fight the last few remaining mobs. Once Crisis was sure that the rest of the fighting traders could take care of himself he went after Mot and Rig to help them take down the bandits. There were only six bandits who weren't even that good at fighting and were only equipped with iron swords. Mot took down three of them with a bit of help from Crisis while Rig faced two of the other bandits. One of the bandits stayed back and attempted to attack Crisis when he saw an opening only to be shot in the leg a moment before he was even able to get one hit in with his sword. After all the bandits were taken down Mot tied them all up before contacting Dianite and asking him to take care of the now tied up group of bandits. As Mot walked back to the group after taking care of the bandits Crisis and Rig were leaning against a tree and resting while taking care of the few small cuts that they had received. Luckily no one was severely injured or killed and those who were injured only had a few bruises or cuts. After checking up on a few people Mot headed towards the tree where Crisis was downing an instant health potion and Rig was just resting. When he got there the first thing he did was face Rig and said, "You should travel with us more often, you're better than most when it comes to handling a sword."

Hearing this Rig let out a terse laugh before replying "I just might. Haven't had to fight that many mobs since the time I was traveling at night during a blood moon."

"Seriously?" Mot asked as he leaned against the tree to rest up a bit.

"Probably not, I'm a wanderer not a merchant. But, if the chance pops up, sure why not."

"What about you Drago? Thinking of switching places with Ryan?"

"Actually yes if I don't have to fight a horde of mobs on the way home every time."

The three laughed at the sarcasm before Mot asked,

"By the way. Drago, where did you get that new bow? It's way fancier than your old one."

"I just got it last night. Sis made it in return for some cobalt and ardite."

"Your sister is a weapon smith?"

Before Drago could answer Rig replied "The best in Dagrun. Heck maybe one day even in all of Ruxomar if she keeps improving at the rate she's at. She made this ardite broadsword for me last year to replace my old bronze one and it looks like someone with years of experience made it."

"Really?"

"Apparently she's only got two years of experience. So yeah."

"Well I'll keep that in mind for the next time I visit Dagrun."

The three conversed until everyone was well enough to keep traveling until nightfall. As night approached the group stopped and camped out for the night before continuing to Urulu. By noon of the second day the group had made it back to Urulu and during this time Rig got to know Mot and Crisis very well and vice versa was true as well. By the time they made it to Urulu the three were talking and working together as if they had known each other all their lives. After they entered Urulu they parted ways. Mot went to go report to Dianite and go on with business while Rig went to go visit her family and Crisis went back to the place that he called home.


	6. Chapter 6: Crisis

Chapter 6: Crisis

Crisis shared his home with two friends that he had made during his time in Urulu, Ryan and Alexis. The three ran a shop and would rotate between staying at shop to sell things, checking on all the equipment and traveling to other cities to sell and trade.

"Hey! I'm back!" Crisis yelled as he closed the door behind him.

"Did you make any good trades?" Alexis asked from the table he was sitting at.

Alexis specialized in redstone circuitry and his handiwork could be seen throughout the city as many people often asked him for help when he was not busy working in the shop.

" 'Course I did. Here take a look." Crisis answered, swinging his new bow off his back to show it off to Alexis

"Woah! Where did the new gear come from?" Ryan exclaimed, cutting Alexis off as he walked down the stairs.

"Our newest trading partner, my sister."

"WHAT?!"

Ryan on the other hand was a chemist who could create almost any chemical compound and loved making ones with extreme effects. Ryan met Crisis while the two were working on one of the farms near the edge of the town. Both of them wanted to work with machinery rather than on the farm and made a deal with each other that they would work together to earn enough money to sustain themselves and start their own business. The two became fast friends after this and when they met Alexis they were impressed by his knowledge and skill and quickly befriended him. When the three finally opened up their own business it started off as just them renting out machines that they had made themselves and offering help and advice on anything anyone needed. Crisis would sometimes offer protection during important transactions with his bow skills, Alexis often helped workers fix the irrigation system, and Ryan often helped people by making them medicines to replace potions that would normally be very expensive to buy. But as their business grew and they gained more resources, Ryan came up with the idea of building a mining laser which would technically give them infinite resources to trade without the normally required labour. This idea would launch the three into being a very successful trading shop and the three began to trade in other cities outside of Urulu.

"You went to Dagrun, right?" Ryan asked, his jaw practically hitting the floor in shock.

"Yeah."

"I've been there so many times and I have never met anyone there who looks related to you."

"Well, we don't really look too much alike especially after sis apparently bleached her hair white."

"Wait... Akiza? Akiza is your sister and working with us now?" Ryan practically screamed.

"You've met her?"

"She's the blacksmith, she's bought ores from us several times." Alexis stated.

"Well, we struck up a deal so that as long as we supply her with cobalt and ardite, she'll make us weapons and stuff." Crisis shrugged trying to avoid the glares his friends were throwing him.

"Are we just going to gloss over the fact that you never mentioned that you have a sister. What else are we missing? Do you have a secret twin too or something?" Alexis interjected, interrupting Ryan from going too off topic.

"I haven't seen her in three years. I didn't even know she was in Dagrun until two days ago. I thought she was still traveling the world and adventuring in the wilderness or something."

"So basically good news is we get cool new weapons bad news is it's your sister?" Ryan said trying to just move on from the subject so he could go back to nursing his cold.

"Yeah, basically." Crisis answered,

"Well at least she's nice." Shrugging his shoulders, Ryan walked towards their small kitchenette to try and make himself some more soup.

"Any other news breaking facts you want to share before we all die of shock?" Alexis asked before going back to finishing the maintenance on the machines.

"Hahaha nope not today."

After their reunion the two kept in touch mainly via letters passed through Ryan as Crystal would visit him every time he came to town for trading. The two rarely met face to face but, one of the few times the two saw face to face again were when Crisis went to Dagrun to get his old sword fixed and when Crystal traveled to Urulu to drop off her payment to her brother and his friends.

The meeting where Crisis dropped off his old longsword was brief but during that time the two were able to spar a bit before Crisis has to return to Urulu. About a little over month later, after getting to know Ryan and Alexis a bit better Crystal finally decided to make them their own custom weapons. She had never seen the two fight before but her intuition was rarely wrong when it came to matching a person with a weapon. For Ryan, she made him a mithril warhammer complete with full quartz upgrades, a lava crystal, and a small engraving consisting of his name and a random chemical structure just for fun. For Alexis, she made a mithril battle-axe with a circuitry engraving that went up the handle, quartz to increase the sharpness of the blades, and lapis lazuli for added looting. Both weapons were also fitted with flux-capacitors that allowed them to just charge their weapons instead of constantly visiting her for repairs as the flux-capacitor made it so that the weapons used energy rather than lose durability. When she revealed the weapons to the two they looked as if they were children and Christmas came early. The moment she let them have them Ryan immediately started swinging his hammer around like a madman while Alexis took a more tame approach to testing the weight of his new battleaxe. By the time Crystal had to leave, Ryan had already beat Alexis in a few sparring matches purely due to his crazy fighting style and Alexis was slowly getting used to the weight of the battleaxe, besting Ryan multiple times after he got used to the weight and Ryan got tired.

During this time the two siblings had set up a way to contact each other privately using a secure network to make sure no one could trace or listen into their calls or messages. They had also set up a plan to create and set up a portal system that would allow for easy travel and a quick getaway if ever need be. But since they didn't have the supplies to set it up yet they left it for a later date.

 _AN:_ _Hi... yeah I'm not dead... yay... I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest and it's not the best. I might update it one day, but not anytime soon. Next chapter will be done soon and will be better than this one._


	7. Chapter 7: Super Blood Moon Part I

Chapter 7: Super Blood Moon I

 _AN: Yo, new chapter! This time with action! This chapter was a bit long hence why it was split into 2 chapters. More to come soon before winter break ends!_

(Private Link)

[Crisis] You want to go home!?

[Crystal] Oh, come on it's been 3 years! I think it's time we go home and tell them we aren't dead.

[Crisis] Yes but the moment we step into the city don't you think Mianite will sense us or something?

[Crystal] That's why we'll sneak in leave a coded letter with a rendez vous point and then leave before he notices us.

[Crisis] Fine. When do you want to do this?

[Crystal] I'm free next weekend no one will even realize that we were gone if we're fast enough.

[Crisis] Alright, and let me guess, go disguised as our old selves?

[Crystal] No duh.

*End Transmission*

A few days later...

"Bye Kitty!" Angel called as she closed the door while her sisters ran ahead.

"See you!" Called Crystal as she finished her tasks for the day and closed up the shop before finally heading upstairs and cooking herself some dinner and changing into something she wouldn't normally wear.

The two had planned it so that they would meet up that night halfway between Dagrun and Urulu to travel to Dankrosa and finalize plans. Akiza had disguised herself by wearing a skirt with a matching sleeveless top instead of her normal jeans/t-shirt combo, and a cloak with a hood that covered her eyes when she pulled it up. She had also run some black, water soluble dye through her hair, just in case the hood came off.

Similarly in Urulu, Crisis had just finished closing up the shop for the day.

"I'll be back by Sunday night. Sis and I are just meeting up to go check out something she found." He said as he finished eating dinner with his friends.

"You aren't bringing your bow with you?" Ryan asked as Crisis grabbed his bag.

"Nah, Sis said that whatever she found isn't anywhere dangerous. Plus, it's a short trip. I'll be fine."

He had stuffed a cloak and some black dye, similar to what his sister used to disguise her hair, in his golden bag of holding so that he could still be somewhat disguised without having to change before he left to avoid being suspicious around his friends. Both had grabbed their swords before they left, but left any other weapon at home assuming that they would be too recognizable with them and that simply, they wouldn't need them since the trip wasn't too dangerous. Their plan was that in case no one believed it was them, they could show them their swords as proof of identities. But, before either of them could leave town disaster struck.

Crystal POV

As Crystal left her house through a back door as to not be seen while wearing her disguise she was near the ports when she suddenly heard the castle alarm bells ring. Looking up she saw something neither she nor her brother had planned for: a super blood moon. Quickly, Crystal ran for cover as guards and soldiers ran towards the edge of town to protect the city. But as she continued to watch she saw most of them quickly being overtaken and retreating. Thinking fast, Crystal ran towards the castle as she saw a horde of vicious mobs that had gotten past the guards heading in that direction. With no other choice she pulled out her rapier and sliced through the mobs while getting closer and closer to the castle where the mobs seemed to all be converging. It was still early in the night so there were still some people in the streets who were going home or to the tavern so many of them were either running in a panic or drunk making her path to the castle even more hectic. With the cloak covering her face, no one recognized her as she slashed her way through the streets saving as many people as she could while trying to make her way towards the main group of monsters that threatened the castle. The town square was the only area where Crystal was unable to stick to the shadows and stay relatively unseen. Several people watched in awe as she seemed to dance her way through the square cutting through the mobs one by one while heading towards her main goal. As she approached the king's palace she became very worried as there was a sudden break in the amount of mobs and it was strangely quiet. Too quiet. She made a break for the throne room hoping that it wasn't too late and by the time she got there she saw the founder of the town, Spark and Ianite, with Helgrind not too far away, defeating mobs left and right while protecting Freya and their children. Spark and Ianite stood back to back, Spark brandishing his rapier while Ianite shot arrows at any target that spark had missed. The two worked as one and seemed to be on the same wavelength and didn't seem to be having much trouble. Helgrind on the other hand, while he seemed to be doing fine hacking and slashing through mobs one by one Crystal knew that the amount of mobs in the vicinity would soon overwhelm him at the rate they were increasing, especially with the added factor of protecting his family. Still sticking to the shadows near the sides of the room, Crystal kept a careful watch and only took out enough mobs with a few well placed kicks and stabs, to help the king and his sister while still going unnoticed. It went on like this for quite a while and even though the amount of mobs were slowly dwindling Crystal still had to dash around the room and take out a few mobs here and there. By the time all the mobs were taken care of Crystal was very tired and somewhat surprised that her hood had stayed on for so long. She watched the family hug and relax after their victory before turning to leave.

"You can come out now, I know you've been there for quite a while." Ianite said as Crystal froze and started to weigh the options between bolting off and revealing herself _before_ bolting.

"I would like to thank you for helping us. Without your help I don't think Helgrind would have come out of this as unscathed as he currently is."

Steeling her resolve Crystal took a step into their line of sight and lowered her voice an octave or so to disguise her voice.

"There's no need to thank me. I just did what I thought was right."

"Why don't you come over here so that we can put a face to the one who helped us tonight." Helgrind said stepping out of his wife's embrace.

"I'm sorry sir,I can't do that." She mumbled just loud enough for the rest to hear her.

"Why not?" Ianite asked eyeing the cloaked stranger in the room.

"You're not a danger to this family are you?" Spark asked.

"No." Crystal answered hesitantly.

"Then come out of the shadows and lower your hood." Helgrind ordered, becoming impatient, wanting to know why the stranger who had just saved him and his family didn't want recognition.

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" Ianite asked before her son could interject with an angry or rude question.

Crystal looked down sadly and before anyone could question her any further she ran off towards the outskirts of the town as the rest of the family tried racing after her. But, thanks to her old training she as an assassin she was much more agile than all of them and her knowledge of the back streets allowed her to lose them simply by weaving through the back allies and eventually taking to the rooftops. Spark was old and his age didn't allow him to keep up with the agile stranger, leaving Helgrind and Ianite to follow in pursuit. Anyone who was still awake at this time watched in confusion as several members of the royal family chased after the cloaked shadow who was jumping from roof to roof and seemed to disappear into the shadows. Finally after ditching Helgrind and Ianite, she reached the forest clearing where she practiced every morning. With the still blood red moon disappearing from the sky, Shrugging off her cloak and running her hands through her now dark hair she sighed, "Because, the woman who helped you is nothing but a ghost."


	8. Chapter 8: Super Blood Moon Part II

Chapter 8: Super Blood Moon II

Crisis POV

Crisis had just gotten to the edge of town before he heard panicked screaming and saw the flood of monsters going through the town. Since he didn't have his normal bow on him and too many mobs blocked the way back to his home, he quickly ran to a back alley and threw on the cloak and ran some of the black dye through his hair covering all traces of his bright hair. As well as putting some over his eyes like a mask before drawing his old longsword and running back into the streets. Slashing his way towards the center of the town he watched as several other who knew how to fight tried their hardest to fend off as many mobs as they could. Due to the more active nature of Urulu's nightlife, more people happened to be out during the flood of mobs and most of said people were also drunk. Crisis wasn't as good as his sister when it came to stealth so he took advantage of the extra speed from the charges and quickly dispatched of all mobs that surrounded him. Cursing himself for not grabbing his old wand he charged headfirst through wave after wave of mobs in the streets as he headed towards some of the more populous areas of Urulu that he knew would act as giant magnets for the mobs. When he got to the library that was situated under the grand statue of Dianite, he watched in surprise as Mot defended a group of merchants from what seemed like a tidal wave of zombies. Not wanting to waste too much time, Crisis charged headfirst through the group and took out most of them. As the amount of mobs threatening the group decreased Mot ordered the group of merchants to run to a safer place before helping the stranger who had just basically saved him and several others. Crisis, knowing that his long sword was quite recognizable due to it's bright red hue and heavy modifications, would back away from anyone who got too close to him. Mot noticed this avoidance but didn't comment on it and continued to fight his way through the hordes of mobs that threatened the town. Following the screams of panic Crisis made his way around the city saving people left and right all while trying to avoid being seen. Sticking to back allies or the troof tops Crisis almost made an entire loop through the entire city before running into some more serious trouble. The edges of the town held the most danger since they were situated right next to the desert and while the city had lights in the streets, the farms and irrigation structures didn't. So anyone in that area were in the most danger and of course there just had to be someone in this area.

"STEVE!" Crisis heard Mot call out from behind him and looking a bit farther out he saw said person and his girlfriend Martha, standing back to back while trying to fend of a wave of mobs with skeletons shooting at them from all sides. Normally Crisis wouldn't be worried, he'd heard stories about Steve's fighting ability, but the two weren't wearing heavy armour and the amount of mobs would ovewhelm them soon enough. Watching as Mot rushed in to go help the couple, Crisis sighed in defeat and rushed in after him. Sticking towards the edge of the group Crisis took care of a surprising amount of the mobs without taking substantial amounts of damage. As the others watched in awe, Crisis skillfully maneuvered himself around explosions and arrows while plowing through mobs with ease taking out mobs one by one with several well placed slashes and stabs from his long sword. Arcing his sword up Crisis finished the last of the zombies threatening the group, when all the mobs were finally finished Crisis was more tired than he had ever been while training as a knight. Turning to leave the area, Martha called out to him before he could get too far.

"Hey, wait."

Stopping for a moment Crisis sighed in defeat too tired to try and test if he could outrun them or not. Taking this as a good sign Martha continued, "Thank you for saving us,but may I ask, who are you?"

"Nope." He said simply before running off away from the town.

"Wait, hold up!" Mot yelled as the three tried to follow him but even in his tired state, Crisis was still very agile compared to the rest of them due to his prior training and was easily able to out maneuver the three once he crossed the river and reached the nearby forest.

"Ok, seriously. We just want to thank you. Why in the world are you running?" Steve yelled as Crisis nimbly scaled a tree in record time.

"Stop following me." Crisis yelled as he jumped from tree to tree going further and further into the woods forcing the trio to give up on catching up to their cloaked saviour.

"What is his problem?" Mot asked in exasperation after they had stopped.

"I don't know, but whoever he is he doesn't want his identity to be known." Steve answered as he watched the shadowy figure get further and further away.

"Did any of you see his sword?" Martha asked.

"Don't really know how you could miss it." Mot replied before downing a healing potion.

"Well, he shouldn't be too hard to find later on if he uses a sword like that."

"If that was true then we would've seen it before." Steve mentioned, downing a healing potion before throwing one towards Martha.

"We'll just have to ask around then to see if anyone else has ever seen anybody with a bright-red sword."

"Why are you so interested in him?" Mot asked.

"I'm curious. I deal with anything mysterious and mystical, so this is right up my alley."

"Well, I know that if I ever meet him again i'm giving him a right rumble for making us chase him this far."

"Technically, you didn't have to follow him." Martha laughed.

"Oh, shush." Steve replied turning around and starting back towards the town, the others following suit.

Crisis watched from a distance as the trio went back to town before situating himself in the tree he was in and contacting his sister.

*Comm. Link*

[Crisis] I'm assuming you didn't make it to the camp site either.

[Crystal] Yeah

[Crisis] Scrap the plan?

[Crystal] Yeah, just go camp somewhere. We'll try again some other day when we don't have to worried about being mauled to death by zombies

[Crisis] Good idea

[Crystal] Alright go to sleep you idiot I know you're tired

[Crisis] You too. 'Night

[Crystal] G'Night

*End Transmission*


	9. Chapter 9: The Shadows Arise

Chapter 9: The Shadows Arise

After their "grand debut" the two stuck to laying low while trying not to do anything suspicious and see what everyone else knew about what happened, which was surprisingly easier than they thought since no one thought they were skilled enough to be the cloaked shadows. In less than a week both towns had crafted elaborate stories paintings the two as mysterious saviours dub because of their elusive nature, some went as far as saying that the two shadows were one in the same. When asked the two would claim that they weren't in town when the super blood moon had occurred. Crisis had to camp outside of town for two days just to keep up the cover that he was supposed to be gone for those days. When he returned he was bombarded by stories about his actions and tried his hardest to not correct everyone. Later after a week of overly flourished tales and rumours both siblings finally found some time to contact each other privately to discuss (read: make fun of/complain about) said rumours and stories.

*Comm link*

[Crystal] So, what is this about the shadow of Urulu?

[Crisis] Hello to you too, shadow of Dagrun

[Crystal] HA So it _was_ you

[Crisis] God damn it you too?

[Crystal] In my defense there were a LOT of zombies and I didn't really have any other choice.

[Crisis] Same here but with more drunk people.

[Crystal] At least they don't think you're half enderman.

[Crisis] No, they think I'm half ender _dragon._

[Crystal] hahahhahahahaha

[Crisis] Fuck you.

[Crystal] How did that happen? Did you have your angel ring on or something?

[Crisis] Apparently,I'm invulnerable and have the ability to fly. What about you, half enderman?

[Crystal] Apparently,according to those who saw me. I have the ability to teleport .

[Crisis] So basically, your harcore parkour got mistaken for teleporting.

[Crystal] Haha yeah. But you know what, it's been awhile since something this exciting has happened.

[Crisis] Nooooooooooo

[Crystal] What? I haven't even finished my train of thought yet.

[Crisis] Just no

[Crystal] Oh come on, we just act like vigilantes for a bit and then scare the crap out of our friends. It'll be fun, plus we'll get to keep our sword skills sharp.

[Crisis] Don't you think we'll compromise our identities that way

[Crystal] That's why not only do you have an ardite sword, but you could also wear a mask or something and use a voice mod.

[Crisis] Let me guess that's your plan?

[Crystal] Well now it is.

[Crisis] Where in the world am I supposed to get a voice modulator from?

[Crystal] You literally live in a city FULL of merchants. Trust me, you'll find one.

[Crisis] How long are we going to keep this up?

[Crystal] Just as long as you want. You don't have to keep this act up for long, it's just for fun. I'm probably going to tell them in a few weeks just to see what happens.

[Crisis] But how are we going to explain our skills in the end?

[Crystal] We'll just tell them that we picked up a few trick while during the blood moons and we weren't actually the shadows and we just used ender pearls to mimic the teleporting thing.

[Crisis] *sigh* sound good enough.

[Crystal] So, you in?

[Crisis] I get to scare Ryan in the end and terrify some people at night, sounds like fun.

[Crystal] I've got a busy day tomorrow, so I've got to get to bed.

[Crisis] Alright G'night

[Crystal] 'Night

*End Transmission*

Crisis POV

Climbing down the tree that he had camped in days prior, Crisis headed back to Urulu, contemplating the idea of the prank that his sister wanted to play. By the time he had gotten back to the town he had settled on a plan that would allow him to act as a vigilante during the night without his friends getting suspicious. Within a few day he had gotten himself a voice modifier along with a way to make it look like there was someone in his bed when he snuck out at night with an old witchery potion and some basic cloning technology. Crystal had stopped by during one of her weekend trips to sell some of her weapons and give Crisis a few things including a mask for "shits and giggles" she said. He never planned on wearing it but kept it on him in case of emergencies. His disguise was simple, the cloak he wore during the bloodmoon, along with some black leather armor and some washable black hair dye that his sister had provided. His plan was to go out and stop a few thieves, maybe a zombie or two before slipping away via ender pearl. The plan was to get noticed and maybe grab the attention of a few gossipers or drunks who were out during the night and cause a bit of chaos and see just how bad the rumors could get. Sure his plan was silly, but it was worth a shot and the end result was going to be quite entertaining.

* * *

A few weeks later...

It was way past midnight as Crystal took off her disguise, hiding it in a hidden chest in her room that also contained some artifacts from her old life. Crystal had settled on a simple disguise consisting of a simple black cloak, the voice modifier, black hair dye, and some dark leather armor that was similar to her brother's. She had bought a mask during one of the fall festivals a few months ago for herself, she never wore it but kept it on her just in case. The mask she bought was a simple black feline-esque mask that covered the top half of her face. She jokingly bought a more draconic mask for her brother that covered the bottom half of his face poking fun at the name he'd chosen for himself. Within a week the two siblings had grabbed quite a bit of attention and the rumors had grown even more ridiculous. Some claimed that the two were ghosts, others stuck to the original rumors, and others had expanded on the original theories claiming that they were half dragon with the ability to teleport and breathe fire. The siblings laughed at these rumors and claimed to not believe that they were real since they hadn't seen them. All the while coming up with more and more ideas to mess with the towns. Crystal had crafted two ender pouches that allowed the two to switch swords once in awhile to confuse those who got a good look at their weapons and whenever the two just happened to be in the other's town they would swap places for the night allowing the other sibling to go along with their life as usual to throw people off their tracks. The two siblings had lost track of how long they had been keeping this charade up with how much fun they were having. Each week they would call each other and report to each other on how much the rumors had changed all while coming up with more ideas on how to confuse more people. They contemplated using magic but the idea was shot down quickly when Crisis brought up the fact that they hadn't used any magic in years which could be problematic since they didn't want to cause any damage to any buildings or towns people.

Getting into bed to get a few hours of sleep before the sun rose, Crystal contemplated how long it would be before they would be found out with the recent insurgence of people who were very determined on finding out who they were. Crisis had mentioned a few days prior that Mot and Martha had spotted him during one of his nightly rounds and Crystal had noticed a few townspeople trying to follow her as well. Even with their abilities if their little game got too out of hand they planned on ending it by just disappearing and stopping their appearances at night. With this thought Crystal fell asleep oblivious to what lie ahead for the siblings.

* * *

 _AN: Happy Holidays! Hope you guys liked the chapter, updates are probably going to slow down again after this due to school things, but I'll update when and if I can. Thanks for reading. -Ninjacatz_


	10. Chapter 10: Red vs Blue

_AN: Just a disclaimer before this chapter starts, the new character is not mine. She's was actually_ _created by Madelynne Logolepsy (storiesfromtherealmsofmianite. tumblr) and I got permission to use her in my story and develop her a bit. Other than that college crap is done for now but now I have to deal w/ other things so still no idea as to when I'll get the next chapter up. Other than that, Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 10: Red vs. Blue

4 weeks later...

A bell rang as the door to Crystal's shop opened alerting her of someone coming in just a few minutes before she planned on closing up.

"Hello, how may I help you?." Crystal greeted in her usual kind voice, not looking up from the axe in her hand.

"Hello, Zhang." The woman said as she took off her sunglasses revealing her blood-red eyes.

"I didn't expect you to visit. Red." Crystal replied calmly as she set the axe that she was polishing back in its display case. She knew Esther Liberosis from when she was still Mianite's champion. She was sent to kill the assassin and in turn the assassin tried to kill her, but in in the end they came out as allies instead of enemies, with both parties keeping their lives.

"Let's just say I need a favor."

"What do you need?"

"A place to lay low."

"And how do you know that I won't bail you out to the people you're hiding from?"

"Because we both know that your loyalties lie far, far, away from those who want me dead."

"Around the counter. Upstairs. Spare bedroom is to the left. By the way ever thought of looking into disguise magic?" She smirked.

"Heh, and what, hide in plain sight like you? No thanks. I couldn't live that kind of life." Esther said as she started to walk upstairs. But unluckily for her Mot just happened to walk in before she was far enough for someone to not notice her.

"Yo Akiza! I wanted to know if...Who's that?"

"Huh? Oh just a friend who needed a good place to stay for a bit. Isn't that right Red?

"Who's Red?" Esther turned around at the sound of his voice, expecting a signal from Crystal to run, but instead she saw her going about as usual as if nothing could go wrong.

"Wait a sec, Liberosis? Is that you?" Mot asked as Crystal quickly turned to hide her momentary panic.

"Hello Mot."

"What are you doing here?"

"Just needed a place to stay for a bit." She answered, relaxing a bit knowing that she wouldn't compromise Crystal's identity for now.

"Akiza? Care to explain?"

" _Blue_ and I go a long ways back." Esther replied before Crystal got a chance to open her mouth, surprising Mot since he knew of Esther's profession, which didn't seem to give many chances to befriend people especially, someone as kind as Crystal. Her emphasis on the nickname confused him as well, as Crystal now looked like she was trying her hardest not to die laughing. The two were hiding something but he couldn't figure out what.

"Anyways, Mot what did you need?" Crystal asked changing the subject and snapping Mot out of his thoughts.

"I wanted to know if you were going to take a trip to Urulu anytime soon but it seem like you aren't since you have a guest it seems."

"I wasn't planning on going but I do have a few weapons I could sell, if you could get them to Drago that would be great. Also, how do you two know each other?" She questioned while choosing a few of the weapons she wanted to send to Urulu for selling.

"We've run a few errands with Dianite in the past." Esther answered.

"Liberosis over there has been a good ally when it comes to some of the more difficult trips for rare items near dangerous things."

"Makes sense." Crystal said as she finished packing a few weapons into a simple backpack before handing it to Mot, "Just tell Ryan to give me the payment when he comes to town."

"Alright, I'll see you later then. Goodnight."

" 'Night." Crystal replied Mot left the shop.

As soon as Mot was way out of earshot Esther turned to Crystal, "Drago? Tell me, your brother didn't choose a name that stupid, did he?"

"Trust me I've smacked him in the head way too many times for doing that." Crystal replied rolling her eyes at her brother's stupidity.

"Well, miss shadow of Urulu I think I'll go upstairs and get some rest then."

"You figured it out? How?"

"My curiosity got the best of me and plus, it wasn't that hard once I figured out that the weapons that the two shadows have been using were similar to the ones that the two people I "assassinated" three years ago used."

"Then you won't question my absence after I close up shop then." Crystal replied, her now blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Nope, Heck I might even help you."

"Sounds like fun. Question though: Arrogant ice bitch, or bat-shit crazy."

Without any hesitation Esther smirked, "Ice bitch, definitely the arrogant ice queen approach, it'll be way more fun that way."

A few hours later...

People watched in confusion as who they assumed was the Shadow ran through the streets with the red-eyed assassin on her tail. Well, running was an understatement, the two were putting as many theatrics into their little show as possible, with both parties jumping and flipping over crates, people and even rooftops. Mot had just finished talking to one of Dianite's contacts as Crystal and Esther passed him. Worried that his ally was in trouble he followed them as they rushed towards the arch by the docks. Once there, it looked as if the Shadow had no place to escape as people lined every exit hoping to get a good look at the Shadow. Mot skidded into the open area as the two started to circle each other in a stand off.

"We finally meet, Shadow. You know, you're more talented than I originally thought." Esther hissed as Crystal reached into her hood to activate her voice modifier.

"You're not so bad yourself, _Archangel_." Her warbled voice said, shocking many people in the crowd with her arrogant tone.

"It seems you have nowhere to go now."

"That's what you think."

"How about you show your face to the crowd, or are you a coward afraid of someone coming after you."

"Ha, that's what you would like to think."

"Well then, how about I pull down that hood of yours myself."

"Sure, if you can catch me that is."

Before Mot could even anticipate what would happen, the two had already dashed towards each other lashing out with their respective weapons, locking blades for a moment before backing off, giving Esther enough time to throw some knives that Crystal provided right at their owner, some of which she deflected skillfully with her rapier while dodging the others. Esther wielded a dagger given to her by Dianite, it's blood-red color matching her eyes. Crystal had been on the wrong side of the blade many times and both women knew how the other fought allowing them to show off without hurting each other. _Just like old times._ Both parties thought as they smiled and continued their fight. Crystal expertly swung her rapier as Esther blocked all of her strikes, smirking. Arcing her blade upward Crystal managed to knock Esther's sunglasses off her face causing her to back off a bit before charging at her again. This time it was Esther who was on the offensive slashing aggressively getting a good hit in on her shoulder, who in turn backed off and flipped onto a pile of crates right next to the arch.

"You owe me a new pair of glasses, Shadow." She called, preparing for the next part of their plan.

"Like I care. You shouldn't have gotten that close to my blade, but it seems you won't be able to unmask me tonight."

"We'll see about that." Esther said as she whipped her arm out throwing one of her own throwing knives at Crystal who dodged but not enough as the knife caught the edge of her hood causing it to fall back and reveal Crystal's face that was heavily disguised, using some make up she made the areas of her face that wasn't covered by a small black domino mask, more masculine and had used magic to make her normally long white hair, very short and black, completing her look was a scar that ran along the left side of her forehead along with another one that went up her chin reaching her cheek on the right side of her face.

Everyone gasped at her appearance but Esther quickly interjected before anyone got any ideas.

"You're using magic to hide your identity aren't you."

"Smart, but that's not entirely true. Scars of this caliber and detail are hard to create and hide, but who knows maybe I am skilled enough to do that. But, I think that's enough of a show for tonight." Crystal truly did have enough skill to create the scars for her look but most of it was done with makeup with magic just to make it look more real. As the crowd started to look upset at the fact that her appearance was fake she looked to Esther and signalled her to tell her she was going to make her escape now.

"You're good Archangel but it seems you weren't good enough. Goodnight citizens of Dagrun, better luck next time." Crystal smirked as she bowed dramatically before quickly firing an old ice spell towards the crowd causing a huge wall of ice to appear and consequently, a large amount of confusion before leaping from the pile of crates to the top of the arch and onto the roof of the building far across the area where they had been fighting. Taking this as her cue to leave Esther gave her a head start before pretending to follow her, both of them heading towards Crystal's home but before she could get far Mot pulled her into a side alley.

"What were you thinking!" He hissed

"That arrogant bitch needs someone to bring her down a notch."

"Her? I thought it was a guy."

"There's no way a guy could fight as gracefully as she did." Esther replied quickly hoping to cover up what she revealed.

"Alright, well that doesn't matter and you didn't answer my question." Mot said snapping himself out of his thoughts.

"Curiosity got the best of me." She replied nonchalantly, Mot glared at her.

"You know, curiosity killed the cat." .

"But satisfaction brought it back."

"What about Akiza, does she know about this?" Mot said rubbing the hand not holding Esther back from escaping, over his eyes in exasperation.

"'Course not, I made sure she was asleep before I went out."

Satisfied with her answer he let go of her and turned to leave while Esther headed back to Crystal's home. Before they got too far though Esther called out to Mot, "By the way, there's two of them, one here in Dagrun and one in Urulu."

Shocked at this new bit of information, Mot tried to ask her for clarification, but before he could, Esther had already taken off.

By the time she got back Crystal had already changed out of her disguise into her pajamas and taken off all the makeup that had caked her face and was currently nursing one of the cuts she had received during their fight and a drink to make the stinging of the alcohol wipes a bit more dull.

"What took you so long?" Crystal asked as Esther came in.

"Mot had to interrogate me." She replied, taking aa seat across the table from where Crystal was sitting, pouring a glass of whatever Crystal was drinking for herself.

Changing the subject as she continued to bandage the cut on her shoulder, "Do you think they bought it?"

"Probably, but even if they didn't, it was fun."

"Agreed."

"Did you really have to shatter my glasses though."

"Payback for the knives." Crystal answered with a straight face. A bout of silence ensued before the two of them started laughing. The two of them reveled at what happened and continued to tell stories and catch up for the rest of the night.


	11. uhhh hi? anyone still here? no? cool

_Ahahahaha... hi._

 _Right, it's been over a year since I last touched this story. So, I recently got bored and decided to clean/organize my personal google drive after a year in college. I dropped writing this story when I did because school life was getting a bit hectic and I needed to focus more on school than finishing this story and once I had dropped it, it fizzled out of my mind like the rest of my writing attempts. A good friend that I've made over the past year also tends to write stories as a side hobby like I did, he made me think of picking up writing again so I did. I've been working on other things since I last updated this story some more fanfic-y in nature, while others more original in nature. While organizing my google drive I opened the two documents pertaining to this story and noticed that things were all over the place, so I spent about twenty minutes cleaning stuff up and re-organizing the two documents._

 _I not only have one 53 page document of story/dialogue for finished and many unfinished chapters. There's also an 8 page "outline" with ideas and critical facts that I needed to write this story._

 _Needless to say I decided to re-read what I had written to see how much had changed between my writing then and now, and holy hell, there's a huge difference. I personally think I sound like a thirteen-year-old when I wrote those chapter but, to be fair I wasn't kidding when I had said that that was the first fanfic/story I had ever written. There's so many mistakes that I've caught and other small errors that I've found that are from me editing and changing the story as I went. Like, what the fuck past me, what were you doing?_

 _The ten chapters that are posted on this site take up a little under half the pages in my main document. The rest is a few snippets of future chapters, quite a bit of dialogue that chapters and scenes were going to be built around, and even parts that only need a bit of polishing before I would've considered it a fully finished chapter. All in all I had a solid foundation for the beginning of the story, a few dramatic reveals, an explanation for the goddamn title, and a fully hammered out end of the story. I really did enjoy writing this story and now that I've picked it back up I've decided that I might post the rest of the bits and pieces for those who still want to read them, as well as for the purpose of leaving a more finished project rather than one that doesn't make any sense due to its unfinished status (and you bet your ass I'm practically going to be chanting "no regrets" in my head over and over again before I post each thing because fuck it). I'm not going to touch any of the previous chapters, as its quite entertaining to look back and cringe at how much I sound like a fourteen-year-old trying to be edgy, but if you see a difference in the style of writing in future parts_ _(great! it means I'm learning shit)_ _it's because I added/fixed some parts after picking this story back up. Thanks to all those who've read this story over the year and have favorited, followed, or left a nice comment on this story. I hope you enjoy what could've been the rest._

 _ **tl;dr**_ _I'm putting the rest of this shit up. Probably. Most likely, eventually. Because this story makes no fuckin sense without the rest of it._


	12. Chapter 11: Aspen

_AN: One of the issues I had was deciding on what age I wanted my characters to be, which can kind of be seen in this chapter with the vagueness of Crystal's age. Originally I had wanted them to be younger than Mot's character before realizing how young it would make them in the timeline when they were Mianite's champions. Looking back, making Crystal maybe a year or two older than Mot would've make more sense especially with the information from the character's tumblr that states he was crowned champion at around 18._

 _Well, that's enough of that. This chapter isn't exactly very long nor is it very polished, but meh whatever. Enjoy._

Chapter 11: Aspen

Crisis was on his way to meet up with a group traveling to Dagrun that he was hired to protect. These days, he was accepting fewer jobs like this since he had started his charade as the Shadow in Urulu but he hadn't taken a job like this in a while and not accepting this offer would be suspicious, and since this group was headed towards Dagrun he planned to surprise his sister as well. He had a few more minutes till the group left and he was just a few blocks away from the meeting place when something caught his eye. A small blur had run past him into the alley next to him and as he felt his pockets to check if he had anything stolen from him he watched as another man about 4 times his size had barreled into the alley next to him as well, screaming his head off about some hobo kid or something. Piecing things together Crisis figured that the small blur from earlier was a runaway child and checking the time, he sighed as he went down the alley as the kid probably didn't deserve what was coming for him.

As he approached the end of the alley he quickly ducked behind some crates as he watched the small conflict ensue. He heard the man yell but the kid was nowhere to be seen unless you were skilled enough to actually look through the dark alley and spot the kid perched on a small ledge on the side of a building several feet above the large man. Deeming the kid fairly safe, Crisis stepped out from behind the crates determined to save the poor kid who had somehow invoked the man's wrath.

"Oi." Crisis said pretty loudly scaring the man out of his wits. "I think I saw the kid you were chasing back in the streets."

Grumbling the man stomped off leaving the two in the alley alone.

"You can come down now." Crisis called as soon as the man was out of earshot. The kid looked at him in shock and then all of a sudden looked ashamed, but didn't come down. Looking up at where the kid was hiding ,Crisis figured out why the kid hasn't come down yet, shaking his head, he looked back up and called to the kid again.

"You're stuck on that ledge, aren't you?"

"You can say that I'm on edge about coming down." He finally replied, trying and failing to mask his terror at the thought of jumping from the height he was at.

"Really? Is now really a good time for puns?"

Pulling some of the stray crates around, Crisis created a small platform for the kid to land on. After making sure that the platform was high enough for the kid to jump down to without hurting himself, he got up on the platform himself.

"I'm assuming you're going to tell me to jump."

"Yeah, basically. Just try to aim for the platform and don't land on your face."

Taking a minute to gather his courage the kid drew in a breath before he finally carefully got up and jumped down from the ledge. Crisis grabbed his arm as he landed making sure that he didn't smash his face into the makeshift platform.

"You ok?" Crisis asked while quickly looking the kid over for any signs of injury.

"Yeah."

"Alright, now go back to your parents, and try not to piss anyone off anymore." Crisis said as he turned around to leave.

"And if I don't have any?"

At this Crisis stopped abruptly and turned around.

"What's your name?"

Hesitantly the kid answered, "Aspen, my name is Aspen Fornax."

"Ok, come with me."

"What?"

"You're a homeless kid who needs a job, and I have a place where you might be able to stay."

...

"So, you're telling me you found this kid and decided that he needed a place to stay. So you thought dumping him with your sister was the best plan."

"You're good with kids. Plus you said you might hire someone soon."

"He's TEN." She cried, swinging an arm towards the child.

"You're responsible enough."

"I'm a twenty-some year old woman who bullsh-craps her way through life.

"So, you're just going to leave him on the streets." He replied with a smug smile.

"F- _Screw_ you. Kid there's someone in the guest room currently so for now you'll have to bunk on the couch upstairs. Shower's the first door to the right." She said pointing upstairs, watching as the kid practically flew up them in excitement. "I'll see what I can do. But that means no couch for you. You're luck Esther isnt actually in the guest room right now. She would've come downstairs and told us to shut up by now if she wasn't out getting information right now."

"Since when did you have a guest room?" _(AN: woopwopwopwopwop questioning continuity errors)_

"Since when did you pick up strays?"

"Well I couldn't leave him on the streets."

"Crisis, just because it's been a few years doesn't mean we don't have to be careful anymore."

"I know."

"You brought me a kid. One who could easily find out our secret on accident."

"You said you deal with two kids all the time."

"They aren't here 24/7."

"I never said you had to keep him."

"Like I'm going to let him fall through the cracks of the foster system."

Smiling, Crisis knew he had made the right decision in bringing Aspen to his sister. Chrys sighed in defeat and put a hand up to her face to massage her temples.

"Go back back to the inn Cris, I need some sleep."

Walking towards the door Crisis shouted his farewell as he headed out.

"Bye. Hey, Can I come over for breakfast?."

"You'll be doing the dishes."

"No I won't."

"I make it, you wash it."

"Byeeee."

"I'm going to murder him." Chrys muttered, trudging up the stairs ready to end her day and sleep on the fact that she'd basically just gotten a child dumped into her lap that she was now going to take care of.


	13. Chapter 12: Screw Subtlety

_AN: There's actually a few notes in this chapter that are normally comments on the google doc but I left them in because they're not too distracting. More to come as soon as I get to it. Also, to the one reviewer from the long authors note: I don't know who you are but you're adorable :) Thanks. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 12: Screw Subtlety

"Is the kid asleep?"

"Yes Esther, Aspen is asleep. I made sure of it."

Esther sent her a questioning glare that made Crystal pull her hood down in exasperation before continuing, "You do realize you weren't the only one trained to be an assassin right? I can tell nowadays when people are asleep and when they're faking it."

"That's actually news to me." Esther replied, her normally cold demeanor cracking a bit with surprise.

"Wait really?"

"I thought you were just well trained to counter assassins."

"Fair. So, why the secrecy?"

"I want your help."

"You're kidding."

"An incoming ship is carrying some stowaways who are part of the thieves guild, popular for using more creative methods to rob small businesses and merchants."

"And you want my help because they travel in larger groups and while you are capable of taking them out, backup is always preferred."

"You recognize their MO don't you."

"'Course I do. Had to deal with them back in Dankrosa when I was still... you know. Assholes snuck into the city and robbed several businesses, causing chaos multiple times."

"So, you'll help."

"Red-"

Putting a hand on her shoulder Esther already knew what her argument was going to be, "I know you're not a champion anymore Crystal, but you're still a damn good fighter."

Slightly taken back by the compliment, Chrys paused in thought before steeling her gaze and looking right into Ethers blood-red ones.

"I'll have your back."

"And that's all I ask."

"Woah, where did you pull that outfit from." Aspen asked as Chrys exited her room wearing an outfit much nicer than her normal jeans and t-shirt. The lack of goggles perched on her head also helped make her look more put together rather than looking like she'd been working in her forge all day. Rolling her eyes she responded in a matronly tone as she finished pulling on her boots.

"You got your stuff together yet Aspen?"

"Yeah. Just one second. Seriously though are you two going on a date or something?"

"As adorable as that sounds," she replied leaning on one of the small kitchenette's counters, "it's nothing like that. I'm taking Red to get some drinks tonight before she leaves, since it's her last night here."

"Sounds like a date to me." He smiled as he stuffed his toothbrush that Chrys had bought for him into his backpack.

"Kid's not wrong." Esther said, exiting the small guest room. A small knapsack holding only her bare essentials slung over her back. She was dressed nicely as well, further selling the illusion that the two women could be going on a date.

"Esther." Chrys reprimanded

"Kid just listen to your mom and get your stuff."

"I'm not his mother."

"You sure sound like it."

"Ok kid, time to drop you off at Angel's."

Sneaking past guards and other late-night venturers, the two women made their way quietly to the docks. Earlier, the two actually had gone to a bar or two and had a few drinks while making sure that people had seen them in order to keep up Chrys's cover story. Though they still had minimal amounts of alcohol in their system, the two still made it to a secluded area without notice, allowing Chrys to pull on a cloak and mask as well as strap her weapons around her waist before they got to the docks. Shrouded by darkness the two watched carefully as several men and women exited one of the boats. Subtlety seemed to be lost on the bandits as the neon lines on their clothing practically glowed under the moonlight. _(AN: Imagine: the ridiculous armor from dubstep guns)_

Without warning Esther quickly dashed out from where they were hiding, dispatching several of the thieves before Crystal could even get close enough to engage with them. Within minutes the docks were in a state of chaos. The two women looked like a whirlwind standing back to back, even though Chrys only fought defensively the two of them managed to take out every single bandit without catching the attention of any of the guards. Once finished, Crystal nodded to Esther before leaving the scene, knowing that Esther likely wasn't finished with her job even though all of the bandits were unconscious.

meanwhile in Urululululululu...

Quietly, Crisis snuck out his window, the darkness of the night shrouding his slightly ungraceful descent to the alley below. With Alexis in Katsir, he only needed to worry about not waking Ryan from his sleep as he snuck out. With his ardite longsword sheathed on his hip and a mask covering the lower half of his face he continued through the back alleys of the City of Merchants looking for ways to mess with people and further perpetuate more ridiculous stories about him and his sister.

"Are you ok?"

Nodding her head numbly the woman tried her hardest to stand up from the ground as Crisis simply guided her back to a crate for her to sit on until she could breathe well enough to get out of the alleyway herself. Having not had the best immune system growing up. There had been multiple times where he had been sick to the point where he had to take medication before training if he wanted to be able to breathe well enough to at least get through a day without sounding like he was dying. Understanding what she was going through he silently urged her to stay where she was before giving up.

"Stay here," he said, trying his best not to scare her with his warbling voice, "I'll try to get you some help."

"And leave the poor lady alone?"

Stepping in front of the woman, Crisis regarded the newcomers silently. Their leader had an arrogant smirk on his face, greed and lust seemed to ooze from the group as they closed in on the lone shadow.

"I'll take that silence as an okay on walking her home?"

Crisis gave his answer in the form of sweeping his arm back slightly to push his cloak off his arm and rest his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Is this really how you want this to go? You do realize you're outnumbered 4 to 1."

"I've faced worse."

"Cute, but seriously, I would suggest running if you don't want to get hurt, skinny boy."

Rolling his eyes Crisis simply stood there trying his hardest not to facepalm.

"Fine have it your way."

Sighing Crisis barely moved an inch as the small gang rushed him. Without even unsheathing his sword he dodged and deflected several knife strikes before simply taking a step back as one of men ran staight into a wall. Seconds later, he had knocked all five men unconcious with barely a scratch on him. Turning to the woman still sitting on the nearby crates he checked to see if she was ok and seeing that she was breathing much better now, he helped her up.

"Someone will be here in a minute, I suggest either leaving now or staying to explain what happened."

"Thank you." She nodded, "But, why would you do all this for a stranger?"

"Not being able to breathe sucks." He replied simply before walking out of the alleyway and climbing to the rooftops where he could watch as the woman made her way back home safely.

"This is your fault and you know it."

"I'm sorry Zhang I didn't think they'd put a hit on you for that." Came Esther's exasperated reply.

"Yeah well it's not like Crisis's antics are helping much either."

"What'd he do?"

"Some dicks we're messing with some helpless chick one night and he kicked their asses. Turns out said dicks are some underground hit men and he pretty much screwed the two of us over."

"That's kind of adorable."

"Reeeeeeeed."

"Blue, there's no use in freaking out. You said you had a plan for if something like this happens."

"Yeah, well I don't think laying low is going to help anymore."

"Well, then you're slightly screwed."

"Thanks."

"You want to know how high your bounty is?"

"No... yes."

"1000 gold." _(AN: I don't know. Choose a number. Pretend it's real high.)_

"Holy fuck."

"Still not as high as mine."

"Yeah well, you killed a champion. I just went vigilante for a few weeks."


	14. Chapter 13: bits and pieces

Chapter 13: bits and pieces

 _AKA: inexperienced writer (me) googling "how to write dialogue between way too many characters"_

 _AN: dear god i hated trying to finish this chapter and make sure it wasn't just a bunch of bullet points. It's still just a bunch of dialogue even after months of trying to fix that issue._

"Hello dear sister, what brings you to Thel Olihm?"

"I'm assuming you've heard the gossip about the shadows."

"Cutting straight to the chase aren't we?"

"We both know you like it better that way."

"True, true. But yes I have heard of the shadows that have supposedly helping to protect our cities."

"And what do you make of them?"

"They haven't caused me any troubles yet, if anything they've helped protect many of my merchants and traders. But, what worries me is the fact that they've been hiding their identities. Choosing to only take action when they know they can escape quickly."

"My thoughts exactly. So, what should we do about them? Have our champions seek them out?"

"No, judging by their skill, I will sadly admit that neither Spark nor Mot have the ability to find them."

Both champions looked at each other, neither one believing what the red skinned god had just said. Before either champion could interject with any comments Ianite cut in.

"What do you mean?"

"I watched the shadow of Urulu fight a few bandits, that boy is definitely not self taught. His prowess could possibly easily match our champions'."

"Then how about we lure them out?"

"That might work, but..."

"A tournament." Spark suggested, his sudden comment prompting everyone present to give him a questioning glance.

"What?"

"A tournament might draw them out."

"And how do you propose we draw them out with a tournament?" Ianite asked, giving her husband a questioning look.

"Simple, the prize is an audience with the two of you, where you grant them something, or in our case a chance for us to interrogate them." Mot replied, catching on to his fellow champion's plan.

"But between the two towns?"

"We could stage it as a tournament to improve relations between Dagrun and Urulu."

"It shouldn't be too hard to spot the two contenders, especially with how flashy their swords were as well as their flair for the dramatics while fighting."

"Their swords?" Dianite asked curious about the new information.

"From what I've seen and heard, the shadow of Dagrun uses a blue rapier while the shadow of Urulu uses a red long sword."

"This is our chance Crisis. If we win this damn thing we just might be free from Mianite forever."

Reading the poster for the fifth time Crisis looked up at his sister. "This looks like a trap."

"No shit." Chrys replied, glaring daggers.

Handing the poster back, Crisis pulled the hood of his cloak back up. "You sure this'll work?"

"It should, as long as one of us wins."

"In a twist of events, rather than having our fighters fight each other it seems our champions would like to fight our finalists in a tag-team match!"

Behind their masks the siblings eyes widened in horror at the announcement. Walking over to her brother she held her hand out in a mock greeting. Grasping her hand, Crisis suppressed a yelp as she pulled him in quickly to clap him on the back before whispering something and letting go while taking up her position next to him.

"You two ready?" Spark asked, drawing his rapier.

Silently Chrys nodded to her younger brother before drawing her rapier and performing a small flourish while sliding into her stance with Crisis following her example and sliding into his own stance as well.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Fighters at the ready? Set, GO!"

Smirking, Chrys was practically a blur the moment the announcer said go. Dashing as fast as she could she practically crashed into Mot, their weapons clanging as Mot barely drew his dagger in time to block Chrys's blow.

Shit they're fast.

Pushing harder against his opponent, Mot's efforts were rewarded as his opponent backed off.

Taking a cue from his sister after watching her dive straight into a clash with Mot, Crisis ran straight towards his opponent as well, meeting Spark's blade in clash of sparks.

We underestimated these two.

The fight continued as the siblings relentlessly rained their attacks down on their opponents. Their blades were blurs of blue and red and their cloaks fluttered behind them as they continued their attack. Something was off though, the odd bouts of grace and technique that the champions had seen earlier was gone as if it were just a figment of their imagination.


	15. Chapter 14: Aftermath Part I

Chapter 14: Aftermath Part I

 _AN: i was definitely still googling how to write dialogue between too many characters. College is kicking my ass btw especially since the entirety of my department is researchers and not actual teachers. More chapters to be posted before I go back to school._

" **And the winners are: The Shadows Of Urulu And Dagrun!"**

"Whoops"

"Whoops?"

"It seems like we were having a bit too much fun." Chrys replied, sheathing her rapier.

"Congratulations on winning the tournament."

"Thank you. Lady Ianite, Lord Dianite."

"So tell me, were you two even trying?"

The two siblings looked at each other before Crisis simply shrugged as he gave his answer.

"Not really."

"Had we been trying, it wouldn't have been much of a tournament." His sister finished.

The confident statement definitely surprised the gods a bit. Eyeing the two a bit more carefully, Ianite continued,

"Really, and why is that?"

"We're from Dankrosa." Crisis answered.

Picking up from her brother's statement Crystal continued, "Former knights too. Castle guards and traders aren't exactly the toughest opponents we've ever faced."

"You're still hiding something." Dianite stated.

"Yes and we will tell you, under one condition." Crystal answered nervously.

"And what would that be?" Ianite asked.

"We need help." Crisis said in a deadpan voice.

"Specifically we want protection that only you two can provide." Crystal added.

"And what would that be?" Dianite asked looking at the two in suspicion.

"Accept the terms first then we'll tell you."

"Not so rude." Crystal practically sneered at her brother knowing that disrespect would get them nowhere.

"You two don't seem to have a lot of faith in us." Ianite stated, eyeing the two with worry and what seemed like disdain.

"Let's just say we have our reasons."

"And what would those reasons be?" Dianite asked as the female shadow shifted under his scrutiny..

"Let's start with this."

Crystal nodded to her brother before the two pulled down the hoods of their cloaks and took off their masks revealing their faces to the two gods.

"Lacerta? One of Urulu's rare ore traders, and his sister the weapon smith. Consider me impressed."

"I'm surprised that you even know our names my lord. But, it's Crystal and Crisis respectively, your brother's ex-champions."

"Ex?" Ianite questioned.

"He was using us as pawns" Crisis deadpanned, "and thus we decided to quit."  
"What did he do?"`

"We figured out his next orders for me. He wanted me to take the lives of those who were a potential threat to him. Meaning I would've had to take innocent lives "for the greater good"."

"Mianite would never..."

"Think about it sis... I'm not surprised. He would do anything to gain more power nowadays."

Ianite looked down dejectedly knowing that her brother was right. Wanting to make things right she looked right at Crystal with a determined look on her face and asked,

"How can we help?"

Surprised, Crystal answered, seemingly a bit relieved that the gods had understood their intentions.

"We've already changed our identities and no one back home suspects that we're alive but, that would all prove useless the moment Mianite gets near us. We need your help to put a barrier around our minds, or seal our presence, or memories, or at least something to that effect. Just so that if we got near Mianite he wouldn't be able to feel our presence or access our memories and notice that we're still alive." She explained as her brother shifted into a more relaxed position after hearing that at least Ianite was willing to help them.

"Mianite did it once when I went to Thel Olihm." Crisis explained, nodding towards Dianite. "So that you wouldn't know that I was there."

"And why, boyo, did Mianite send you to Thel Olihm with your presence hidden?"

"It was a test to see if I could get past your defences unseen, while tracking down an item that he wanted destroyed."

Wincing at her brothers explanation Chrys cut in before the gods could say anything, "He didn't know that he had that barrier on him until one of our friends mentioned it. It's kind of one of the things that tipped us off about Mianites plans for us."

"What items were you tracking down?"

"We don't know." Crisis replied, "He just told us to find and destroy them."

"And did you succeed in destroying any of them?"

"Our reports say that I did, but in reality we couldn't. We assumed they were important so we hid them all. I kept one of them though."

"Keep it boyo, keep it safe and I'll tell you if I ever need it back."


End file.
